studentsdostuff-blog

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Mörk Chocolate Brew House

150 Errol St, North Melbourne VIC 3051

Food

A: We didn’t have any food I don’t know why this heading is ‘food’? But that aside, the Campfire Hot Chocolate was AMAZING! Finally found a decent hot choc that’s not just warm milk with some sugary tasting powder or syrup mixed in ;) They also had a variety of chocolates and some cakes available at the cafe that looked great.

Llio: I usually have a strong dislike for hot chocolate so I was pretty apprehensive going into this, however, I was very pleasantly surprised. I selected the ‘very dark’ option, which was made with 80% dark chocolate. I found it to be quite bitter and not at all sweet- which was absolutely perfect for me. I would definitely order it again.

Emily: Like A, I also had the social media renowned Campfire Hot Chocolate but unlike all my other campfire experiences there was no dirt, mosquito bites or burnt meals of disappointment. In fact, this drink is far from the great outdoors- and that’s just how I like it. A creamy, rich dark hot chocolate you pour into a glass of smoke creates a taste that can be enjoyed by all. Served with charcoal salt and a toasted marshmallow (made by the Brew House) add nostalgic memories to the drink, without any of the unpleasantries. This is a drink to be enjoyed around friends on a day out or simply when you want to treat yo’ self to a little decadence.

A: Wow, Emily. You poet you! - I’m impressed.

Naomi: Emily, just stop where you are and start professionally writing ads for people! :’) I got the 50% hot chocolate option, which was $5 (because I’m a broke bitch and didn’t have much to spend), which was honestly really really good! I haven’t had hot chocolate for ages because I found myself disappointed, due to them being too cold, too hot or too water when made at home or at some cafes (also partially to do with finding a superior hot, milky beverage: the chai latte); however, I really enjoyed this hot chocolate and seriously would consider drinking again!

Service

A: Staff were really friendly and we were looked after very well. Free sample of vanilla infused sparkling water <3

Llio: The service was impeccable, our waitress was incredibly kind and very helpful.

Emily: Okay so this may seem impossible to some but I have the habit of dressing like a bag lady. Think Old Bird Lady from Mary Poppins meets 21st century. That is me. That is how I look with my second-hand, slightly frayed coat. But instead of looking down at me like SOME food servers have, I was treated with the utmost respect even when I ordered just one thing from the menu. Our waitress was so lovely, polite and helpful that I am so frustrated that I can’t remember her name. This service was above and beyond.

Naomi: They offered to hang up our coats… ‘nuff said.

Ambiance

A: waiting for your cue to figure out what to write in this section @Emily :’)

Emily: A you know what ambiance is

A: Hahaha ok so it was a pretty great place to sit down with some friends, chat, and enjoy the relaxed and quiet atmosphere. How’s that for ambiance?

Emily: This place is my new happy place. Window view. Warm lighting. Perfect table height. Green plants. Zen.

A: Now that you mention it, that table height was spot on. Loved watching them do the smoke for our Campfire Hot Chocolates behind the counter as well - it left the whole room with a subtle smoky smell.

Naomi: I agree with everything ^ it was so cute. The place was decked out in really simple decoration with pretty neutral tones which made it so peaceful to sit in. Plus the art books and hipster-healthy-mum cook books were super pretty!

Concluding remarks

A: A regular $9 hot choc is a bit much for a student budget as much as it pains me, but the $5 dark choc one seemed more do-able…. To be honest I’m surprised that it only cost that much and I could easily see them upping these prices considerably as word gets round and they become more in demand. They appear to have gone to great lengths to develop such a sophisticated brand, with probably the best customer service I’ve encountered.

Llio: It was a very enjoyable experience with a great atmosphere and delicious, reasonably priced hot chocolate.

Emily: You definitely pay for what you’re getting- impeccable service and even better drinks!

Naomi: 10/10 would come again, especially on a chilly morning with friends.

[studentsdostuff-blog]

OM Vegetarian

4/227 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000

“Unassuming pit stop for all-you-can-eat vegetarian Indian curry, saag and lassi, in an arcade.” - Google Reviews 

All you can eat thaali - $6.50

Palak Paneer (top picture) - $9.90

Food

A: I got the ‘All you can eat Thaali’ which cost $6.50. Yummy curry with yummy roti that staff came to top up regularly. A bit hot but I’m not used to spice so probably just normal for a good curry. Vegetarian <3. Rice was rice.

Emily: Same here. No disagreements with the flavor of the food. For the price you pay, you get a decent amount. Presentation is fairly basic but considering what a deal this is, I didn’t really care. I was full all the way home.

Naomi: Yum. I have been craving curry and spicy things (not hot spice, but tasty spice) for so long and I can honestly say I was satisfied. I had the palak paneer which was like a cottage cheese thing in spinach gravy (I can hear you all saying ‘ew gross’ to that, but honestly it was delicious, wasn’t a weird cheesy taste in sight). There were some cubes at the bottom that I couldn’t work out what they were - maybe tofu? - whatever it was, it kinda tasted bready but definitely wasn’t bread… Was still yum. Came with a side of rice and naan bread. I finished my meal feeling full, like Emily, but not bloated or like I had consumed a bunch of unhealthy stuff.

Service

A: Friendly staff that were very helpful and kept offering us more food.

Naomi: YES! MORE NAAN BREADS IS ALWAYS GOOD. VERY HAPPY WITH THAT BIT OF SERVICE! They did try to give me the wrong meal though… but like I would have taken it anyway. I just wanted my palak paneer. Didn’t have to wait long though.

Emily: Agreed- The waitress kept coming around offering naan bread and even when I was stomach-bursting-at-the-seams full, I kept coming back for more. They were very friendly even when it was busy.

A: I forgot to mention this before but like Naomi said, the wait wasn’t at all long - I don’t think it took 5mins. Perfect for anyone who needs a quick sit down meal, possibly with a roti or five or ten to go ;)

Naomi: Fastest service I’ve had anywhere that wasn’t maccas!

Ambiance

A: “Is this a restaurant?” “Are we in the right place?” It was. We were. Fabulous.

Emily: Haha I guess we had had certain expectations of the restaurant after a friend of ours hyped it to the max. If you don’t mind stepping into what feels like a food court, with very close tables, you should be fine. You’re not paying for a high class Indian restaurant with lemon water in crystal decanters at every table- you’re paying for a great all you can eat meal deal. You definitely get a mix of people sitting around and near you. A couple of teenagers talking about thier “like, craa-zaay day”, co-workers taking a well earned break from the office, parents with children sleeping in their pram. Old, young, rich, poor- there are no boundaries here. Its welcoming.

A: welcoming is a good way of putting it. I felt very welcomed. Was it noisy? I can’t remember.

Naomi: Don’t remember it being that noisy. Like there was a buzz of noise, but it wasn’t like we had to raise our voices to hear each other. There was a good even mix of groups having conversations and people just sitting quietly at their meals.

Closing Remarks

Emily: Look, the food and service are great especially considering how cheap you are getting this all for. We’re students, so a cheap meal that fills you up quick is always fantastic in my book.

A: What Emily said ^. I’ve been to plenty of Indian restaurants in Melbourne before and haven’t enjoyed them half as much as I did this one. There were no too sweet curries to be found here, nor an overdone variety of mediocre dishes. They did a few dishes and they did them very well. I had a great time out with you guys here working up to a food coma :)

Naomi: Loved. Have recommended to my boyfriend and will surely be dragging him on a date there one day!

In addition, it should be noted that this restaurant has 4 outlets in the CBD, to see the options, visit their website at http://omvegetarian.com/. We went to the Wales Arcade branch. It should also be noted that meals and prices can vary between shops (as also we discovered by the website).

[studentsdostuff-blog]

Journey to Melbourne: 18/07/2017

Hi everyone!

Just as a premise of what we are all aiming to achieve on this blog; we are all university students (some 1st year, some 2nd year), and in the hope of keeping ourselves in shape, gaining cooking skills, and still being able to go out on a budget - while also balancing our school life - we decided to group together and motivate each other to do so. We wanted to share our experience to show not only who ever reads this, but ourselves too, that we can still have a good and balanced life even when studying.

Following on from that, I am now going to tell you about our day out in Melbourne yesterday and show you some of the fun things we all did on a budget!

Mork

A and Emily.

Llio and I.

At a 10am leave, we left Clayton and made our way to Mork Chocolate Brewery (in North Melbourne) - on the way Emily had a small fangirl moment when Virginia Trioli (the ABC News Breakfast presenter) got on our tram around the Vic Markets. Mork ended up being on a road that must have been the least busy so close to the CBD! On the whole, we all enjoyed the experience and the hot chocolates very much! It was a bit on the pricey side - the cheapest hot chocolates being $4/$5 for not a very large mug - but delivered in hospitality and the quality of the hot choccy. Our review of Mork can be found in the heading hyperlink!

Wandering around

Somehow mini adventures occur in short periods of time. In the 15 minutes it took us to get to the tram stop we needed (would have been short if we had not been distracted!) we came across: a poorly named hairdressers that tickled our cult-joke-genre sense of humours, Humphrey thE SMOLEST AND SWEETEST PUPPER OF THEM ALL (he was such a tiny little Dachshund who was only 11 weeks old, he just stopped and looked at us until we came over and patted him), and a small selection of Melbourne’s amazing street art - serious recommendation for anyone visiting Melbourne is to go and scope out the street art there are fantastic (and sometimes hilarious) pieces everywhere, if you ignore all the tags!

Lunch- Om Vegetarian

After wandering around for quite a while we ended up in the Ascot Vale/Essendon area, and I had to remind the girls that I had only had an apple and a small mug of hot chocolate for the day and it was by then 12:30 ish - I really wanted lunch. So someone suggested a place that had been recommended to her that was on Collins street (Om Vegetarian), which is where we headed to. As you can see by the picture, I was very glad to have such a big meal put in front of me for $9.90 (even though that was half the money I actually had on hand at the start of the trip). You can see our review for the restaurant in the hyperlink above! Spoiler: it was pretty good!

Op shopping

After lunch we trawled around the city a little bit in search of toilets (surprisingly sparse in the city) and op shops - a student’s most sacred of places. We did this for a couple of hours, scoping out cheap clothes and books that left us with a decent amount of new (yet old?) things that didn’t make us feel guilty for the purchases.

Wrap up

On the whole, the day was great! It didn’t rain very much: which is fantastic for Melbourne in the winter! The food we ate and activities we did didn’t leave us fatigued until the time we left (near to 5pm), despite how much we actually did. I found this day to be quite inexpensive - although only as a day trip out, if I were to do this everyday I would have no money - but as a day trip out to the city, I can safely say that if you have $20 and (at most) $10 on your myki, you are set to still be able to have a great day with you friends!

Have a great day!

Naomi :)

[studentsdostuff-blog]

Monday night chocolate cake - Celebrating the few free days we still have of holidays!

CHOCOLATE CAKE:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose or plain flour

1 1/4 cups white granulated sugar 

1/4 cup Chai Tea spice powder

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

3 1/2 tablespoons vanilla essence

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup boiling water mixed with 2 teaspoons instant coffee powder

Set oven to 175oC. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl, then add all wet ingredients to the dry mix. Pour cake batter into cake pan lined with baking paper and place in the oven for 40-45 mins (checking after 30 mins).

CHOCOLATE GANACHE:

200 ml heavy cream or thickened cream

200 grams dark chocolate

Heat cream in a saucepan until hot, but not boiling or simmering. Turn off the hot plate, take saucepan off the heat and add chocolate pieces. Place lid on the saucepan and leave for 5 mins. Slowly stir until ganache is smooth and glossy. Leave in fridge for 1 hour or until desired consistency. Spread on cake.

-A, Naomi and Emily